Enhancing Snowflake Security with Britive's Ephemeral Access Management

In today’s cloud landscape, securing data access is paramount. Britive, the leader in Cloud Privileged Access Management (CPAM), offers a robust solution by decoupling authentication from authorization, ensuring dynamic and secure access control. Let's dive into how Britive enhances security in Snowflake environments through ephemeral permissions. 

Britive’s Value Proposition

Britive focuses on separating authorization from authentication. While authentication methods can be compromised, Britive ensures that authenticated users only have minimal access initially. True security is achieved by dynamically granting necessary permissions through Britive.

Real-World Application: Snowflake Access Control

Consider a Snowflake environment where data scientists might log in directly or use service accounts. Traditionally, these accounts have standing privileges, posing a security risk. 

With Britive in place: 

• Users can authenticate in directly, but initially only have access a public role. 
• For elevated access such as viewing or editing data, users must go through Britive, which applies controls like VPN checks, MFA, and time restrictions. 
• This ensures permissions are granted only when needed and for a limited time. 

What Does this Look Like in Practice?  

Login: A user logs into Snowflake and initially only has the public role. 

Request Access: The user requests elevated access through Britive. 

Controls Applied: Britive checks specific access policies, such as VPN status, MFA, and working hours and then enables the appropriate permissions just-in-time. 

Temporary Access Granted: The user gets temporary access with specific roles and permissions. 

Access Expiry: After the configured amount of time, permissions are revoked, returning the account to zero standing privileges. 

This approach significantly reduces risks by ensuring that elevated permissions are granted only when necessary and under strict controls. 

Decoupling authentication from authorization, along with ephemeral access management, provides a robust security layer for Snowflake environments. And because Britive enables zero standing privileges, the impact of any credentials breach is significantly reduced. 

By applying strict controls and ensuring temporary access, Britive enhances security and operational efficiency, making it an essential tool for modern cloud infrastructure. 

Ready to learn more about Britive's Cloud PAM capabilities? Schedule some time to chat with a member of the team to see Britive in action firsthand.